


Suffocation

by leychii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Death, End of the World, F/M, Romance, Zombie Apocalypse, suicide implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21876067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leychii/pseuds/leychii
Summary: In a world where it's all over, little brings joy in life anymore and for Ryan, things are en route to become a tad bleaker.
Relationships: Ryan Kinkade/Original Female Character(s)





	Suffocation

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first post here and my warning is... I wrote this very late at night on my phone originally on a different website and am finally archiving it here. I mainly write self-indulgent pieces so please keep your negative opinions about their relationship to yourself! Also, this is set ten years after the world has ended in no particular universe. Very short.

This was the direction she said it was in... The instructions seemed pretty clear, but the street signs had long since faded since the world had ended. Sometimes, he would stop the car to peer at the street signs, squinting and making sure that, yes, this was where he was supposed to turn. With his lucky Clover curled up in passenger, sound asleep, it was all he could do to get her to the location she requested. It was a 30-minute journey of that, peering at near illegible street signs, driving around bodies and other obstacles. Hopefully driving fast enough past the undead so they wouldn't follow the speeding car. One could only hope.

  
It continued until he pulled up to a house. Two stories, four windows in the front with a pathway to the front door curving from the driveway. He almost laughed, it seemed just like something a child would draw. Just like she said it would.  
  
The door slammed shut, and Ryan hadn't seen a zombie for miles, so he assumed it was safe, though he was still on guard. Opening the passenger door, he shook Elora awake, apprehensive. He held his breath until she looked at him, hazel eyes clear as day. "We're here." He shouldn't have expected a response, not with the given situation, so he nodded instead. "Right."  
  
Ryan carried her to the door, her arms tucked in close to her body as if she was...afraid. He attempted to make a joke. He just wanted to see her smile again. "The infection won't spread by touch, plus I'm already carrying you." But still, she said nothing and his shaky attempt to lighten the mood was dashed by her somber look.  
  
How odd. The ever optimistic, ever happy love of his life was...resigned.  
  
"Where did you say your room was?" The question, of course, was silly in its own sense. That was because "I didn't" was her answer. The brunette shook her head. "Just put me on the couch. Please." That voice crack almost killed him, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and, instead, nodded in understanding. Doing exactly what she wanted him to do. Her back touched the fabric and she winced, making the male drop to her height quickly. " Are you okay? Does the bite hurt?"  
  
He went to touch it, but Elora jerked away from him, eyes wide, watery, and full of fear. "Don't. Please."  
  
She leaned back against the couch, breathing in her childhood home for the first time in a long time, and the last.  
  
"Did I tell you about the time I flew headfirst into the wall?"  
  
Ryan jerked as well, but this time in shock. "No."  
  
And she smiled, but it was empty as distant eyes stared at the old, dusty television as if she was watching something again, ten years ago.  
  
"If you look to your left, right by the corner, you can see a spot where the paint is a slightly different color. I was running across the couch, back and forth...back and forth... and then I tripped...right on the armrest. I went flying, dented the wall, and hopped up like it was nothing. I was five? At the time?"  
  
She sounded like she was talking about a faraway land but, Ryan guessed that stuff like that did seem so far. It had been fifteen or so years since she was five. It must have felt like ages ago.  
  
She continued, talking and telling stories about her childhood that Ryan had never heard. He watched her face, the skin around her eyes crinkling in such a way he'd never seen. Low energy and jaded. Tame and at ease...acceptance.  
  
"Ryan...I think its time."  
  
He said he wouldn't cry, but hearing that from her was heart-shattering. He didn't realize he was crying until she reached up, her thumbs brushing at warm tears and she frowned. "Baby, don't cry." She told him, and the tears just fell faster, his shoulders shaking from withholding sobs. "How can I not? How are _you_ \-- you cry at everything why is now when you don't--" But Elora only hushed him softly, kissing the back of his hand after gently grabbing it.  
  
" because I'm much faster to accept things than you are." And she smiled that damn smile. Slightly crooked and full of love. " Ryan, you've always been stubborn...but it's time to let me go now."  
  
There was a moment where Ryan sobbed, wrapping his arms around Elora and listening to her heartbeat one last time.  
  
"I'll be okay, you know? I always have been...I just have to be brave." And she cast her eyes away, and there was fear there since she first got bit. " I'm scared but... I gotta do it. I don't- I don't want to be one of those things, you know that."  
  
The gun that felt heavy on his hip reaffirmed that knowledge. The fact that they had left everything at camp and taken the car with just enough gas to get them here was enough to reaffirm that knowledge.  
  
" I'm getting tired, lovely. I'm going to bed now, okay?"  
  
It seemed so innocent. So domestic, but he knew what she meant, and what she wanted.  
  
Quickly, he cupped her face. "I love you," before pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. Elora smiled sleepily at him, full of love and adoration. "I love you, too."  
  
After she'd fallen asleep after her breaths had slowed to a stop, Ryan had forced himself to be quick and give her her final wish.  
  
After all, he loved her; she was his world, his center.  
  
And with the cold barrel pressed to his forehead, he knew he couldn't live without her.


End file.
